Customary for a Confession
by homoeroticmaintext
Summary: T to be safe. Ino's confession and the events leading up to it. Much as I'd love to keep you guessing, the MAIN pairing is InoSaku others mentioned but not very important. WARNING: CONTAINS YURI. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.


Howdy, 'tis me again! You don't remember me? That's probably because my only other story is in the Lucky Star section

OK, I shouldn't think there are any spoilers(I'm only on episode 139 myself¬_¬;;), and it's slightly AU I think, I'm not really sure...=/ Now I do have an excuse for if it's crap at the beginning, which is that I'd been up all night, I started this story at like 6-something in the morning and finished it at like 23:5-something. So, I'm pretty damn proud of myselfXD

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or its characters. Which I think should be obvious considering this is, y'know, FANfiction... and if I owned Naruto this would actually happen _in_ it, wouldn't it, hmmmmm~?**

Aaaaa~nyway... on with the story, methinks?

* * *

Ino – who had woken obscenely early, far earlier than was necessary – was lying in bed, on her back, listening to the chirping of birds as the sky grew steadily brighter. The hours seemed to pass by more quickly than she would normally have expected, because she had spent them thinking of her favourite member of team seven, thinking about how best to go about confessing her love to the aforementioned ninja. So far she had come up with no ideas of value.

"Heh..." the blonde kunoichi chuckled to herself at a thought she'd just had; "maybe I should ask Shikamaru, he's a genius, after all..." Her smirk turned pensive as it dawned on her that this might not be such a bad idea. _I'm sure he wouldn't judge me._ Ino thought, starting to seriously consider asking her lazy team-mate's advice on the sensitive issue. _Plus, I know he's got experience in the area. They've been trying to hide it, but, it's PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that something's going on with him and Ch__ō__ji. I bet even Naruto could work it out if he stopped staring at Sasuke's rear for three damn seconds. I mean, seriously! How can anyone not notice this stuff? It's like not being aware that Tsunade's a gambling addict or that Neji Hyuuga is a total arse... I dunno... maybe you're more sensitive to these things if you're li-_

"Ino!" Her mother called as she knocked on the door unwittingly snapping Ino out of her inner rant. "It's time to get up; you're supposed to be meeting Chōji and Shikamaru for training in an hour."

"Yeah. I'm up, I'm up!" Ino rolled her eyes as she stretched and got out of bed. _Right, that's it! When we're done training, I'll ask Shikamaru for advice._ The newly fired up ninja thought, a determined look on her face and her eyes blazing.

Chōji let out an exhausted sigh as he collapsed on the ground after the surprisingly vigorous training session.

"Gah! What's got into you today, Ino? That was completely exhausting! I'm totally wiped!" He complained. Shikamaru plonked himself down next to his 'friend', an unusual look on his face.

"Well, to tell the truth," Ino started, a triumphant look on her tired face, "I was trying to make sure Shikamaru was too exhausted to run off straight after training." Her smirk, if possible, seemed even smugger as she turned her attention to her pineapple-headed comrade. His expression soured upon hearing this.

"Oh? And why might that be?" The aforementioned genius asked irritably.

"Well..." Ino's smirk faltered, then disappeared completely as she inhaled and exhaled deeply and adorned a nervously serious expression. "I need... your help." Shikamaru's face registered - all be it only slightly – a mixture of surprise and curiosity. Chōji was also, if more obviously, intrigued.

"OK, so... yeah... Oh! Before I forget, I must warn you that if you laugh or tell anyone about this I will kill you dead." She paused, licked her lips, took another deep breath and blurted it all out at once; "I',andIneedadviceonhowtodoit. Also,I'mgay." Her team-mates exchanged glances; Shikamaru's was deadpan, while Chōji's was perplexed.

"Ah... you wanna try that again?" Chōji asked.

Ino closed her eyes and repeated her previous statements. "I'm gay. I'm going to confess my love to another girl later, and I need advice on how to go about it."

"And that girl would be Sakura." The rounder of her friends stated sagely, only surprised that Ino had actually asked for help. _She must be really serious about her to be actively seeking out Shikamaru's advice._

"H-how did you know that?" Ino demanded, her face bright red and eyes wide with shock.

"Well, it's kind of obvious. If you don't like Sasuke, I mean." Shikamaru informed her in an annoyingly laid back drawl.

"Of course I don't like Sasuke! I _really_ don't get why everyone's so freaking infatuated with him, he's such a tool!" Ino knew she was ranting, but she didn't care. "Arg! He just pisses me off so much. And not just 'cos he unintentionally stole Sakura from me, but also because he's such an arse all the damned time! And you just know he thinks he's so much better than everyone else."

The boys let her seethe in silence for a couple of minutes before Shikamaru decided to inquire as to why she'd gone to him specifically, instead of one of her female friends.

"Oh, well, I kind of already did that. But, I thought you'd be better equipped to advise me on how to successfully woo my same-gender best friend." Ino replied, grinning devilishly. As she waited patiently for the blushing – yes, **blushing** – Shikamaru to recover from her sneak attack she let her mind wander back to when she'd last spoken to – as far as she knew – her only other gay friend.

"_Oh, just do it, Temari!" Ino had groaned as her Sand Ninja friend once again procrastinated over sending the girl she was secretly in love with a written confession._

"_But, she'll say no. I'm sure she will!" Temari replied hopelessly, as she dropped her head to the table. She grunted slightly as her forehead hit the wood. She turned her head – which was still resting on the table – slightly, so she could see Ino and continued her reply; "you've seen how she freaking pines over that stupid idiotic moron who can't see what he's friggin' lucky enough to have under his damn nose!" She had fumed. Ino couldn't help but smile sympathetically at her friend's outburst, seeing as she knew __**exactly**__ what the other blonde was going through._

"_You never know. We might both get lucky-" Temari sniggered childishly at that; "shut up, pervert! You know what I meant. Anyway, it's not like she's actually got a chance with Naruto. It's blindingly obvious that he's gay for – and possibly with – Sasuke."_

"_True, true." The quad-tailed girl agreed thoughtfully, nodding her head in rhythm with the words. "I suppose that means you're going to go for it with Sakura, then? I'm certain you're __no hypocrite, after all."__ Temari said pleasantly, looking up at Ino from the table with a sarcastic smile dominating her features._

"_Yeah, yeah." Ino replied sourly. "Oh! Look there!" She exclaimed suddenly, nodding to where 'there' was. Temari raised herself from the table to look in the direction Ino had gesticulated. They both sighed as they watched the objects of their affections walking along together in the distance. Sakura and Hinata were clearly deep in conversation at that point, and failed to notice the longing stares they were receiving from their secret admirers._

"_Oh, screw it!" Temari exclaimed out of the blue, turning to face a slightly confused Ino. "We should just do it, y'know?"_

_Ino considered this for a minute, after taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts which had been scattered by her cohort's surprising announcement. Finally, she nodded. "You're right." Ino agreed firmly. "I mean even if they hate us at first, they'll come around eventually, right?" Despite what one might expect from her words, there wasn't even a hint of sarcasm in the blue-eyed ninja's tone._

"_OK. So, we'll do it before the next time we see each other. Then we'll report how it went, sound good?" Temari replied. She was nervous, but excited._

"_Sounds good, you've got a deal." Ino agreed, with a nervous smile, and excitement in her voice._

It was at that point that Ino realised someone was saying her name.

"Oh, sorry, what?" She asked feeling an embarrassed blush lightly colour her cheeks.

"Jeez... You come to me for advice, and when I actually give you some you completely zone out!" Shikamaru complained. "Such a drag..."

"Well? What was your advice, then?" Ino asked impatiently.

"I said that you should just ask to talk to her in private, and then just be honest about your feelings." He said simply, a soft expression on his face.

"Wo~w. You really _are_ a genius, aren't you Shikamaru?" She replied with a tone of Earth-shattering sarcasm.

"If you're going to ignore the voice of experience, that's your prerogative; but you don't have to be rude about it." Chōji told her, the irritation in his voice as clear as a bell.

"I'm sorry." The kunoichi sighed. "It's just... my relationship with Sakura is tenuous enough at the best of times, y'know? She always acts like she's worried I'm going to do something to screw up our friendship again, which – in all fairness – I probably will..."

Chōji and Shikamaru were rather taken aback by their blonde friend's obvious misery. Hearing her speak in such a melancholic manner was shocking to say the least. But, then... was it shocking to see Ino depressed? When if you looked in her eyes you could never really see the sparkle that should be there. She hid it well. Overcompensated by acting like she was overconfident and obnoxious. When in reality, she was desperately lonely. Sure, she was genuinely confident in her abilities and she meant pretty much all of the obnoxious things she did and said. But, in the end, when it came down to it, it was mostly overcompensation.

Although, when it came to Sakura, the name-calling and the baiting were her ways of showing her affection, because that was all she could do to show it, without blowing her cover. So even if Sakura thought she was a bitch, she could live with it, because she knew what it meant even if no-one else did. Well... she could live with it most of the time. Most of the time her laughter and smiles had at least a tiny bit of genuine emotion behind them. Most of the time she could sleep at night and not spend them sleeplessly crying into her pillow for hours on end until her eyes ran dry. Most of the time she considered her kunai weapons to be used against others, rather than a constant temptation to end her lonely suffering, or at least numb her emotional angst with physical pain. Most of the time. But, not all the time.

"Well... I think I'll be going now..." Ino told her friends, turning slightly to go as she did so. "Thanks for the advice, guys."

Shikamaru turned to Chōji as Ino walked away. "How do you think it'll go?" He asked.

"Hm... I honestly have no idea. But, I do think that even if Sakura turns her down she won't tell anyone about her being gay." He smiled and leant his head against Shikamaru's shoulder. "I think they'll be OK, though. Regardless of the outcome."

It was the following day, and Ino was tying her hair in its customary ponytail, having already hours making herself look just right._ So today's the day._ She thought apprehensively. _From today Sakura will know I'm in love with her._ A tear rolled down her cheek at the thought of rejection, but she quickly brushed is away.

"Come on, Ino. Keep it together." She told herself firmly. The kunoichi shook her head and slapped her cheeks, putting on her game face as she stepped out of her room, ready for what awaited her. Heart break? Or happiness?

As she wandered the streets in search of Sakura – carefully avoiding the places she thought the pink-haired kunoichi might actually be – she was seriously considering chickening out and going back home to hide in her bedroom.

It was when she was just about to give in to her doubts and run home, when she happened to glance down an alleyway and saw something almost unbelievable that had her rooted to the spot.

It was Temari. Well, to be far more accurate, it was Temari shoved up against a wall with Hinata's tongue down her throat. Ino couldn't help but stand there, mouth gaping, transfixed by the sight of the – surprisingly violent – Hyuuga girl molesting Temari. Not that she seemed to mind, of course. Quite the opposite, it seemed that the young woman was **ra~ther** enjoying it.

Ino finally came to her senses when it occurred to her how utterly embarrassing it would be if one of the girls happened to look her way and saw standing there with her jaw hanging like some kind of moron. So, she went back to her search for Sakura. She was blushing profusely, but grinning like an idiot. _If Temari was successful, maybe I will be too!_ The blue-eyed teen thought happily. Her confidence had received a considerable boost from her dark-eyed friend's success.

She finally came across team 7 in Naruto's favourite ramen stand.

"Yo, forehead. Naruto. Sasuke." Ino greeted the trio as she approached the stand. Luckily for Ino, Sakura was too irritated by the forehead crack to notice the difference in her best friend's tone when she'd said 'Sasuke'. Normally, the blonde kunoichi would've decorated the word with faked lovey-dovey-ness. Unexpectedly, Naruto was the only one to notice the edge to Ino's voice as she put a modicum of genuine emotion into the emo-ninja's name. He raised an eyebrow at the discrepancy, but dismissed all thoughts of it from his mind and went back to his ramen with a slight shrug.

"What do **you** want, pig?" Sakura asked. "Come to bother Sasuke or something?"

Ino's jaw twitched, which Sakura and Sasuke – who was watching their exchange with an air of disinterest – both, incorrectly, put down to Sakura's use of the 'pig' nickname.

"Actually, Billboard Brow," she added the insult just to get a reaction. She was, of course, successful. Sakura's eye twitched and her fists clenched as she expressed her severe annoyance. _God, she's hot when she's angry._ Ino thought wistfully; "I came to see you." She continued.

"And why, might I ask, is that?" Sakura asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed.

"I -ahem- I need to talk to you. In private." Her falsely smug demeanour faltered as her resolve and confidence began to waver.

"Well, as you can see, I'm busy. Can't it wait?"

Sakura's dismissive reply was just the thing to feed Ino's doubts. She paused. _Last chance, Ino. Fight or flight?_ Ino closed her eyes to try and decide. She couldn't so she decided to just open her mouth and see which words came. "Y- - No. It can't, Sakura, it really can't. It's a matter of the highest priority." She grabbed the large-foreheaded girl's wrist, before she had a chance to object and started dragging her along behind her as she ran.

"I-Ino!" Sakura exclaimed as her arm was nearly yanked out of its socket. They were running through the trees, and the pink-haired kunoichi was sure she recognised the area, but was sure that it was simply because areas like that all looked pretty much the same. Sakura pulled her arm from Ino's grasp with almost no resistance as she slowed for the clearing they'd arrived in. "Just what the hell are you playing at?"

Ino was standing a few feet in front of the other ninja with her back to her. She was shaking; she'd used up almost all the courage she had and was close to breaking point. "Sorry." Was all she said. Simply. Genuinely. She was half aware that she was apologising not just for her kidnap of Sakura but also for the love she felt for her and all the wrongs she'd done in the past to hide her feelings. She didn't turn to face her friend, as she knew that if she looked into her eyes she'd no longer be in control of herself.

"Well? You wanted to talk, right? So talk!" Sakura demanded.

Silence.

"Is this about Sasuke?"

Those four words pushed Ino to breaking point.

"NO! IT'S NOT ABOUT SASUKE!" Ino spat the young man's name like it was poison. She rounded on Sakura, bitter tears streaming freely down her face. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS ABOUT _HIM_ WITH YOU?"

Sakura simply stared. Shocked by the raw, naked pain sharply clear in her friend's voice. "Ino..."

"DON'T YOU GET IT?" There was desperation mixed with the pain now. "IT'S NEVER BEEN ABOUT HIM! ...Not ever..."

"W-what do you mean?" Sakura was confused and hurt by the words that had been shouted at her. She was mostly worried, though.

"It was _always _about you. I only ever said I liked him because it hurt so much when you said you did... a-and to cover my tracks..." she chuckled bitterly, "I mean, think about it. How better to hide the fact that you're gay and in love with your best friend than pretending to have a crush on the same boy as she does?" Ino's eyes connected with Sakura's at that moment, and she was overwhelmed by the heart-wrenching pain that hadn't even begun to be covered by her voice and words.

_There__'s__ no going back now._ Ino thought. "I'm in love with you, Sakura." The pain and the bitterness were still clearly present in her voice, but now there was something soft about them. Something that was somehow heart-breakingly gentle. "I think I always have been. Maybe I always will be, even without reciprocation." She smiled then, trying – and, quite understandably, failing – to hide her feelings. "Don't worry. I understand you'll never feel the same. And I understand if you hate me. But-" Her sentence was cut short as she was nearly knocked to the ground by a certain pink-haired kunoichi's embrace(or maybe _tackle_ would be more accurate).

"Idiot." Sakura declared as she buried her face in Ino's neck, breathing in her wonderful scent. "You're supposed to wait for the other person's feelings, not just decide they don't feel the same! That's the custom for confessions, you know." She lifted her head to look directly into Ino's astonished eyes, and tried to get across how she felt about the other girl. She smiled, anticipating Ino's reaction to her next comment. "Especially when they love you back." Her smile had become an idiotic grin by the time she kissed her shocked confessor.

* * *

You just read my first Naruto fanfic, hoorah! Actually, I'm sure I meant to write something light-hearted, but this turned out rather angsty, didn't it? I mean the that 'most of the time' thing! What the hell was that? TT_TT

ANYWAY! I plan to do a side-story of sorts about Temari and Hinata(I've even gone so far as to write Temari's letter, BECAUSE I WAS BORED), and I'm thinking of writing a sort of alternate version from Sakura's POV(I don't mean the same story with the names changed, don't worry. Even I'm not that lazy-_-"). Are they good ideas? And if they are, should I make this a series of one-shots or what? Please review, and maybe advise me about those other stories? That'd be awesome^^


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